New Zealand attack - live updates: Suspected gunman appears in court as Prime Minister Ardern promises ‘gun laws will change’
At least 49 killed in mass shooting of worshippers in two mosques
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Your support makes all the difference.At least 49 people have been killed and dozens more are seriously injured after shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Witnesses described seeing bodies and “blood everywhere” following the attack at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch on Friday afternoon.
Police have charged an Australian citizen, Brenton Tarrant with murder,
Handcuffed and wearing a white prison suit, the 28-year-old smirked as he appeared Christchurch District Court but did not speak. His court-appointed lawyer made no application for bail or name suppression.
He was likely to face further charges, police said. Another three people were arrested in connection with the attack. One was later released, but two remain detained at the time of publication.
Tarrant ppeared to have live-streamed the attack and outlined his anti-immigrant motives in a manifesto posted online.
A search of a property in Dunedin, around 200 miles to the south, was carried out by police.
Videos and documents posted online appear to suggest that the shooter live-streamed his attack on Facebook and prepared an anti-immigrant “manifesto” prior to the shooting.
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand's gun laws would be changed as a result of the attack. She later visited refugees in the city.
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The leaders of Turkey and Pakistan have echoed statements made by Iran's foreign minister (see post at 12.31) that rampant Islamophobia in the West was to blame for the murder of Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch.
Speaking at the funeral of a former minister, Erdogan said Islamophobia "has rapidly started to take over Western communities like a cancer".
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan echoed those sentiments, tweeting: "I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia post-9/11 where Islam & 1.3 bn Muslims have collectively been blamed for any act of terror by a Muslim."
Filippo Grandi, commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said the attack came at a time of "growing hostility towards diversity".
"The humanity the authorities and people of New Zealand have shown in their response is truly laudable.
"My colleagues and I at UNHCR stand by New Zealand – a country which has generously given refuge to people fleeing conflict and persecution, and whose citizens warmly welcomed them into their towns and cities."
Speaking in east London, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said there was a "responsibility on all of us to be very careful in the language we use and the messages we amplify".
He added: "There are some people in our city, in our country, who fan the flames of hatred.
"There are some people who demonise and dehumanise people because of the faith they follow.
"There are some people who, rather than addressing people's fears, play on them."
Some more details about the self-proclaimed racist who is believed to have attacked a New Zealand mosque during Friday prayers.
- He used rifles covered in white-supremacist graffiti and listened to a song glorifying a Bosnian Serb war criminal, Associated Press reports.
- At least two rifles used in the shooting bore references to Ebba Akerlund, an 11-year-old girl killed in an April 2017 truck-ramming attack in Stockholm by Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old Uzbek man.
- The number 14 is also seen on the gunman's rifles. It may refer to "14 Words", which according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre is a white supremacist slogan linked to Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf".
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said urgent work is needed to tackle Islamophobia around the world
There is a police presence outside the East London Mosque with officers deployed to provide reassurance and advice on protective security.
The White House has rejected any link between the attack and Donald Trump's rhetoric.
"It's outrageous to even make that connection between this deranged individual that committed this evil crime to the president who has repeatedly condemned bigotry, racism and made it very clear that this is a terrorist attack," Mercedes Schlapp, Mr Trump's director of strategic communications, said.
"We are there to support and stand with the people of New Zealand."
One of the attackers referenced the US president in his manifesto, calling him "a symbol of renewed white identity".
Theresa May has voiced her support for the victims of the attack.
"I have been in contact this morning with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to express the UK's deepest condolences at the horrifying terrorist attack," she says, in a video posted this afternoon on her Twitter account.
"There can be no place in our societies for the vile ideology that drives and incites hatred and fear."
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